Telegraph Line Hazards

NATURAL ENEMIES OF THE TELEGRAPH.

There is, apparently, no apparatus so liable to be interfered with by what we call natural causes as the electric telegraph. Perils from vermin and fungus environ the subterranean wires. Fish gnaw and mollusks overweight and break the submarine conductor; while there is at least one instance of a frolicsome whale entangling himself in a deep sea cable, to its utter disorganization. It is stated that within three years ending 1878 there have been sixty serious interruptions to telegraph communications in Sumatra by elephants. In one instance, these sagacious animals, most likely fearing snares, destroyed a considerable portion of the line, hiding away the wires and insulators in a cane brake. Monkeys of all tribes and sizes, too, in that favored island, use the poles and wires as gymnasia, occasionally breaking them and carrying off the insulators; while the numerous tigers, bears, and buffaloes on the track render the watching and repair of the line a duty of great danger. In Australia, where there are no wild animals to injure the wires, which are carried great distances overland, they are said to be frequently cut down by the scarcely less wild aborigines, who manufacture from them rings, armlets, and other varieties of barbaric ornament. It has been suggested as a means of protection in this case, that the posts should be constructed of iron, when the battery could be used to astonish any native climbing them with some felonious intent. — Saturday Magazine.